Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, are behind
a letter from the 16 senators representing Great Lakes states to the Army Corps of Engineers
addressing efforts to stop the advance of Asian carp.

The letter urges the corps to detail the approach it will take to determine quickly which
proposal should be implemented to cut off possible Asian carp entry points from surrounding river
systems.

The corps is required by a law, which was co-written last year by Portman and Stabenow, to
complete by the end of this year a report on possible solutions to permanently seal the entry
points.

Lacking a sense of urgency, stakeholders could spend considerable time wrangling over which of
the corps’ proposals should be implemented.

Stakeholders include commercial interests, the tourism industry, sport and commercial fishermen
and conservationists.

Last week, a report by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources indicated that DNA from an
invasive silver carp was found in Sturgeon Bay on Lake Michigan during sampling conducted in
August.

A single marker for the silver carp does not necessarily mean the fish is there.

Lead out

The last primary lead smelter in the United States, in Herculaneum, Mo., for 121 years, will be
shuttered in December because it does not meet federal air-quality standards.

The National Rifle Association said the closing means that “entirely domestic manufacture of
conventional ammunition, from raw ore to finished cartridge, will be impossible.” Whether the
closing will affect the high price of lead ammunition, the NRA did not say.

Plants that recycle lead from ammunition and batteries continue to operate.